APPLICATION OF NANO

TECHNOLOGY IN OIL & GAS

INDUSTRY
-By
Alle Sravani
(125102)
INTRODUCTION
Nearly every major oil & gas company has a
track record of investing in nanotechnology-
enabled innovations and use nanotechnology to:

 Enhance oil recovery

 Improve equipment reliability

 Reduce energy losses during production

 Provide real-time analytics on emulsion

characteristics
 Deliver new source materials
How is oil extracted?
 Most of the oil reservoirs in the North Sea use
seawater to help produce oil.
 Seawater is injected into the reservoir and helps push
the oil to the production wells.
 However, after water break-through, additional
injected water will mostly follow the water path and
not push out more oil.
 This is mainly due to the differences in viscosity
between the water and oil and also the interfacial
tension between the oil and water phases.
 Also, some oil remains bound to the rock in the
reservoir or trapped in hard-to-reach pore channels.
ENHANCING OIL RECOVERY (EOR)
 Seawater injection is an effective method for
increasing oil production, but additional methods
need to be developed and applied in order to get
more of the oil out of the reservoir.
 Adding nanoparticles to the injected seawater
can help scrub the remaining oil out of the
reservoir.
What are nanofluids?
 Nanofluids are composed of nanoparticles
suspended in fluids.
How can nanofluids increase oil recovery?
 Nanoparticles can increase the viscosity of the
seawater to help push it through oil zones.
 Nanoparticles can lower the interfacial tension
between the oil and seawater so oil that was lodged in
tiny pore throats can be released into the water
highways.
 Nanoparticles can create a wedge-film that strips the
oil droplets off the rock surface.
 Nanoparticles and nano-gels can be used to selectively
plug water paths, forcing the water to flow through
oil–filled paths.
Oil-wet petroleum reservoir
after seawater injection. Much of
the oil remains trapped in the
reservoir.

Oil-wet petroleum reservoir

after seawater injection. Much
of the oil remains trapped in the
reservoir.
Close-up of the NPs forming a
wedge-like film to strip the oil
off the rock surface in an oil-
wet petroleum reservoir.

Water-wet petroleum reservoir after

water flooding, where the water is
just flowing through the main
channels.
The NPs (or nano-gels) create a
barrier so the water is forced to
flow through another channel
filled with oil.

Nano-scale traffic jams

 The water will accelerate faster than the particles,
leaving them behind to accumulate and plug the
tunnel entrance, ultimately sealing the tunnel.

 This forces the following water to take other paths

through the rock’s pores and passages – and in some of
these there is oil, which is forced out with the water
flow.

 The result is more oil extracted from the production

well and higher profits for the petroleum companies.
This new method can help to raise recovery rates to 60-70 per cent
(which was less than 50% earlier).
OTHER APPLICATIONS
 Nano-size robots will provide reservoir
characteristics back to the operators to guide
drilling and recovery operations.
 Resbot sensors (nanoreporters) are designed to
change their molecular makeup depending on
what they encounter within the reservoir –
water, petroleum, hydrogen sulfide, etc.
 Improved equipment reliability through anti-
corrosion coatings have also been a major focus of
the oil & gas industry.
 And many more.......
REFERENCES
 Abdelrahman Ibrahim El-Diasty, A. M. (April 2013).
Applications of Nanotechnology in the Oil & Gas Industry:
Latest Trends Worldwide & Future Challenges in Egypt.
Egypt: SPE International.

 http://listverse.com/2014/12/01/10-unconventional-uses-of-
nanotechnology/

 http://mastinc.com/nanotechnology-in-the-oil-gas-industry/

 http://www.ntnutechzone.no/en/2015/05/using-nanofluids-
to-enhance-oil-recovery/

 http://www.forskningsradet.no/en/Newsarticle/Nanoparticle
s_helping_to_recover_more_oil/1253987298870/p117731575
3918
Thank You!!!!